Afghanistan Land of Conflict & Beauty
Thursday, December 4, 2025 from 12:00 noon – 2 pm
Anastasios (Tasos) Kioses
Alexander the Great is thought to have said, “May God keep you away from the venom of the cobra, the teeth of the tiger and the revenge of the Afghans”. Winston Churchill wrote in 1897 “Financially it is ruinous. Morally it is wicked. Militarily is an open question and politically it is a blunder”.
This is not a talk that involves analyses of the Afghan situation but rather a narrative of photographic portraits and experiences during Tasos’ assignment in Afghanistan with the UN from 2017-2025.
Anastasios (Tasos) Kioses is a recent retiree from the United Nations. He has worked in the private sector (Air France in Paris, France, and the Athens Olympic Committee for the 2004 Games), the State Department in Athens, Greece, and the United Nations from 2006 to 2025. He has served in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, the Republic of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and last but not least, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from August 2017 to June 2025.
He is a graduate from the San Diego State University (class of 1984) specializing in Political Science – International Affairs. His professional expertise revolves around administrative affairs and contract management where over his 35-year career, has successfully managed contracts worth in the hundreds of millions of United States Dollars with considerable savings.
His interests and passions involve travelling and immersing himself in different cultures as well as photography. He is fluent in French and English, Greek (native language) and is struggling to keep up with his Spanish language skills.
Afghanistan is also colloquially known as the “Graveyard of Empires”. From Alexander the Great in the 330s BC, the three Anglo-Afghan wars in the 19th and early 20th century, the Soviet Union invasion in 1979 and its subsequent withdrawal in 1989 to the recent United States led war for 20 years that ended in the withdrawal in 2021, Afghanistan has successfully warded off the greatest empires of the time. Its strategic location on the land route between Persia (Iran) India and central Asia made it a prize for empires to (unsuccessfully) control for centuries.
Registration: This SFWAF lunch is $26 for members and $36 for nonmembers. You may pay by check made out to SFWAF and mailed to The Santa Fe World Affairs Forum, Santa Fe, PO Box 31965, NM 87594 or with a credit card using our Paypal account. Please indicate on your check or if using Paypal please note in “add special instructions to the seller” that your payment is for the Thursday, December 4, 2025 program.
Members: if you have not yet paid your 2025-26 membership dues, you may include the $50 per person annual dues in your payment for this program, but please also note in special instructions that dues are included. Because we are a 501(c)(3) organization, dues and contributions are tax deductible in accordance with IRS regulations.
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Payment for this program is non-refundable after Friday November 28, 2025 . We strongly prefer that payment be made by Paypal or check postmarked by November 28, 2025 at the latest to facilitate check in. It is also very helpful if you are sending a check to email us at sfwaforum@outlook.com to let us know you plan to attend.
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Because we are a 501(c)(3) organization, dues and contributions are tax deductible.
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Location: SFCC Board Room (#223) is in the West Wing (Administration building). The college is located at 6401 Richards Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87508. Enter through the building’s main entrance (on the left side of the building behind the flag poles). The Board Room is on the corridor to the left of the Campus Center.
Directions: From Rodeo Road turn south onto Richards Avenue. Turn into the campus main drive. Parking lots are in front of the building. From I-25 take the Cerrillos Road exit, turn east onto Governor Miles Road and then right onto Richards Avenue. Then follow directions above.
The Speaker
He is a graduate from the San Diego State University (class of 1984) specializing in Political Science – International Affairs. His professional expertise revolves around administrative affairs and contract management where over his 35-year career, has successfully managed contracts worth in the hundreds of millions of United States Dollars with considerable savings.
His interests and passions involve travelling and immersing himself in different cultures as well as photography. He is fluent in French and English, Greek (native language) and is struggling to keep up with his Spanish language skills.
Nelson W. Cunningham
Michael S. Vigil, born and raised in Española, New Mexico, earned his degree in criminal justice at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces where he graduated with Honors. He later joined the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and became one of its most highly decorated agents. Throughout his career, he served in thirteen foreign and domestic posts of duty and rose through the ranks to the highest levels of the Senior Executive Service becoming the Special Agent in Charge of the Caribbean and San Diego Divisions. One of his final posts was as the Chief of International Operations in charge of all DEA offices worldwide.
